a record of thoughts

It’s been a while since I rented DVDs. I was hooked on the many new KDramas that aired before the year ended. I just couldn’t insert Hollywood in between episodes. So right around Christmas week, I returned my Blockbuster envelopes after they scattered around the house for months for new DVDs. Allow me to digress and explain how my rental routine works.

I signed up for Blockbuster’s online rental; just like NetFlix, only better. I say better because I can return my envelopes at my assigned Blockbuster store for free DVD rentals — 1 DVD for 1 envelope. The rental rules applies. While I have the DVD from the store, the online rental will already send me whatever is next in my queue (availability of the title succeeds the queue). Again, if I return 1 envelope, they’ll send me 1 DVD also. In essence, I’m getting twice as many DVDs.

Back on topic — this weekend, I saw three good films: Meet Bill, Step Brothers, and Traitor.

Meet Bill is a story about identity crisis. I enjoyed it because Elizabeth Banks was hot and not because of the story. The story was okay, but left hanging just like its characterization. Aaron Eckhart’s personification of Bill was praiseworthy and Banks’ body display was delightful to my eyes.

Step Brothers is a story of two middle-aged men becoming stepbrothers after their parents remarried. It’s another one of those Will Ferrel films where everything is blown out of realistic proportion. It’s stupid funny.

Traitor is a story of an FBI undercover who was of Sudanese decent from Chicago (sounds familiar?) He is caught between his beliefs and reality. He sacrificed himself in order to battle terrorism that killed his father and at the same time, he is battling to keep intact his spiritual beliefs. I consider this film to be one of the year’s best because it is substantial overall. It wasn’t overloaded with Hollywood effects and at the same time the story wasn’t dragging. The audience would know that Samir was undercover, but the film would still grab one’s curiosity. That’s because of the nature of the characters, one cannot know what will happen to Samir in the end.

I strongly suggest to anyone the movie Traitor. You won’t regret it.

As I was checking blogs off my blogroll, I noticed that my ads are McCain oriented. Data mining capability of Google is really amazing. I don’t have to say which party I tend to lean, yet it knows. I’m not a registered voter and I don’t think I’ll be, but I’m openly a Republican. I guess it’s in my nature to go against the grain because I live in an urban area and urbanites tend to be democrats.

Especially in this year’s election. I think that the democratic party is a joke. They should have found someone more effective because McCain is a  tough contender. I think if they had Kerry run again, they may have a chance. I won’t make any prediction save one. Hollywood will vote Obama because the vocal these celebrities about supporting Obama, they think that the masses will watch their movies. If you have Pamela Anderson screaming she’s voting Obama, I think you have to think who to vote again. It may be better to vote for Perot if he runs again.

Before you comment on my opinion, it is solely mine and I did not do any research on each candidate’s platform or issues. These are solely my hunch based on the years I’ve “kind of” observe these men.

It’s Independence Day weekend and for those who will be staying home (like me) during the long weekend, I am recommending the films below. They are all foreign films (not if you’re Japanese or Korean). I have them as part of my tiny DVD collection. They aren’t new. They’re about at least 3 years old already and I’m guessing that most of my readers have not seen them yet. I’m a huge fan of martial arts films especially the ninja and samurai. That’s not the only reason why I’m recommmending them, however. These films possess deeper meaning. I have found those meanings in my own perception. It’s up to you to find for yourself.

I will recommend more films later on. (more…)

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